The sass-mouthed web slinging superhero- probably
one of the most iconic characters of modern American media and instantly recognizable
around the world. With super strength, danger sense, the ability
to fling webs, and some seriously unresolved dead uncle issues, Spiderman slings across
the streets of New York City fighting crime. But what if you were locked into a 1 on 1
deathmatch against the web-slinging superhero- what chance would you have, and how could
you overcome him? Hello and welcome to another episode of The
Infographics Show's Could You Defeat It- today we're pitting the average joe up against Spiderman. Spiderman was created by the legendary Stan
Lee and Steve Ditko, first appearing in Amazing Fantasy #15 in August 1962. Stan Lee would go on to say that the inspiration
for Spiderman came from a desire to create a character with whom teenagers could identify,
and cited the non-superhuman pulp magazine crime fighter the Spider as an influence. Although teenage superheroes at the time were
given names that ended with “boy”, Lee wanted the character to age over time and
thought that the name Spider-Boy would have made the character sound inferior vs other
superheros. As the character headed to print, Stan Lee
was responsible for bringing the character concept and story to life, while Steve Ditko
drew the costume, came up with the wrist web shooters and the spider symbol. Spiderman was an instant success, with his
first appearance in Amazing Fantasy being one of Marvel's highest-selling comics at
the time. On March 1963, Spiderman went prime time with
his own solo comic dubbed The Amazing Spider-Man, eventually becoming Marvel's top selling series. But who exactly is Spiderman, and what would
you be facing if you took him on? An ordinary high-school student, Peter Benjamin
Parker was a science-whiz and orphan living with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. One day he is bitten by a radioactive spider
(this was before it was widely known that the only superpower radiation gives is cancer),
and acquires agility and strength proportionate to a human-sized arachnid. But how strong exactly is that? Well, assuming Peter Parker got the best abilities
from all spiders, he would be able to jump 50 times his own body length. Norwegian athlete Arne Tvervaag's world record
for the standing long jump stands at 12 feet and 2 inches- but with Spiderman powers he'd
be able to jump 300 feet from a standing start. What about his climbing ability? Spider legs are covered in very tiny hairs
which are in turn covered with microscopic organs that seize on to tiny imperfections
in surfaces, giving a spider incredible grip. However, very smooth surfaces defeat these
organs- so as Spiderman slings his way across town he'd better make sure and not land on
a plate glass window or it'll be a long fall to the street below. Spiderman famously has use of his spider sense,
which alerts him to danger via a warning signal in his brain that triggers as pain and varies
with the intensity of the threat. Spiders have a similar 'spidey sense', though
theirs comes from their many eyes which gives them an incredible field of view. To supplement their visual organs, spider's
bodies are also covered in tiny hairs which are highly sensitive and perceive the smallest
vibrations coming through the air or surface they are standing on. These hairs allow a spider to react to danger
or prey lightning fast. Spiderman's webs started off as wrist-mounted
devices that fired off artificial webbing, but in later iterations they became biological
adaptations that allow him to do this without the help of a special gadget. As real-life spiders keep all the silk protein
for web-spinning in their enlarged posterior, we're not even going to hazard a guess as
to where on his body Spiderman stores his silk protein. A spider's web is incredibly strong though,
with a tensile strength 5 times greater than steel, and yet is incredibly lightweight-
a single strand that encircled the globe would weigh only 1 pound 2 ounces. So Spiderman is approximately 50 times stronger
than the average human, can detect impending danger near his location, stick to most surfaces,
and shoot webs 5 times stronger than steel- should be an easy fight, right? Unlike most superheroes, Spiderman has no
obvious weaknesses (except dead uncle issues), meaning there is no Superman-kryptonite-like
weakness to directly exploit. However, also unlike most superheroes Spiderman
is not physically invulnerable to everyday weapons. He can take a hell of a beating, but he is
not impervious to gunshots, stab wounds, or a concussion from a club to the back of the
head. His healing factor works on an order of days,
not seconds or minutes, so even though he is super-agile, super-strong, and can shoot
super-strong webs, he's not completely invulnerable. First off, you're going to want to be the
one on the initiative versus Spiderman- make sure that you decide the battleground and
not him. The most important thing to neutralize will
be Spiderman's maneuverability, so lure him to a location where he won't be able to physically
stick to many walls. A big open field would work, though if you
have access to Lex-Luthor-level wealth, then simply build a custom battlefield made of
smooth glass. Magnetic boots and magnetic inserts beneath
the glass would let you move around freely, while denying Spiderman the ability to jump
around and avoid your attacks. Secondly, we can't stress this enough- forget
hand-to-hand combat. He's 50 times stronger than the average human,
Spiderman could rip your arms off and beat you to death with them. Long-time nemesis Dr. Octopus may have super-strong
titanium mechanical arms, but one serious punch from Spiderman would obliterate his
skull- instead, it's apparently better to let Octopus run around endangering the entire
city. Let's say in this deathmatch though, neither
of you are holding back, so don't get into punching range. There's several good options for you at this
point- you've lured Spiderman to your custom killing field, Mary Jane seems to always make
for good bait so we recommend that. Next, you have to keep out of range, meaning
you're going to have seconds to kill Spiderman before you're toast, he may not be able to
web sling his way across a huge empty field or your custom-made glass bowl, but he can
still jump 300 feet per bound. You're going to need something that can neutralize
a fast-moving target with the ability to do acrobatic evasive maneuvers... you're going
to need the US Navy's Phalanx Close In Weapons System. Designed to defend navy ships from anti ship
missiles, helicopters, drones, and other fast-moving targets, a Phalanx unit consists of a 20mm
Vulcan cannon paired with Ku-band radar system for tracking targets. It also packs a forward-looking infrared sensor
for detecting low-observable anti ship missiles via their heat generation, and a fully automated
targeting, tracking, and firing computer that leaves humans out of the loop and can react
in milliseconds. Designed to destroy incoming sub and supersonic
missiles, a Phalanx CIWS (pronounced see-whiz) is more than capable of tracking and shredding
Spiderman into Spider-paste with a firing rate of 3,000 rounds a minute, or 50 every
second! But in all honesty- that's overkill. As Spiderman has proven repeatedly, he's a
good guy, and that might be his greatest vulnerability. Listen, this is a match to the death so we're
going to leave morality out of this one, but if you really want to defeat Spiderman, just
use human bait. Kidnap Mary Jane again, tie her up and gag
her in the middle of your chosen killing field (again, somewhere nice, big and open), and
invite Spiderman to come rescue her. Under Mary Jane's clothing however you will
have secured and pre-armed a M60 claymore mine, obviously facing outwards. We've talked about the Claymore before on
this series, but probably because in all honesty- it's just the best at killing pretty much
anything. Spiderman will sense danger, but he's expecting
a match to the death, odds are not very high he's going to be expecting you're so cold-blooded
that you're going to suicide bomb his longest-running love interest just to eliminate him. But you are, because this is a match to the
death. Listen, you may not win with the ability to
claim the moral high ground here, but then again you're facing a man-spider that can
punch your face off. For the more morally scrupulous amongst you
though, just stick with the Phalanx. How would you defeat Spiderman? What other superhero you wanna see us take
on? Let us know in the comments. Also, be sure to check out our other video
You vs Jason - Could You Defeat Him. Thanks for watching, and as always, please
like, share and subscribe. See you next time.
